With the ubiquity of portable electronic devices, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, and portable computers, as well as increasing dependency on e-mail and other aspects of the internet, situations often arise in which a person will need to check e-mail, gain internet/web access, print documents, or have a video conference. While cell phones can provide basic web and e-mail access in some situations, often fees associated with such access are excessive, speed of connections are slow, and/or the user will need to view content or an attachment that the cell phone can not display.
Portable computers enable people to work on the go, and more public places offer fee-for-service Internet access. However, these typically do not offer printing and other services that users may need. To partly provide such services, many airports offer internet booth rentals in which computers with printers can be used for internet access and work, perhaps also allowing the use of a traveler's own portable computer.
Embodiments contemplate a public access multimedia communications and collaboration hub that allows travelers and other users to browse the internet, check e-mail and webmail, and connect portable devices for file transfers, printing, and other functions and services on a fee-for-service basis. Additionally, embodiments include videoconferencing capabilities and fax transmission capabilities. Preferably, embodiments also allow users to employ the camera and microphone(s) of the hub to capture movies and/or still images that can be stored and/or transmitted.
Preferably, embodiments offer services including, for example, telephone service, document or data creation, CD/DVD burning of data, video, and audio. Further, embodiments can provide directions, offer video games, sell software by downloading and storing on media or transferring directly to the user's computer. For embodiments in public spaces, displays not in use could display advertising, which could be a source of revenue. For example, ads could promote upcoming movies, products, services, and companies as do conventional billboards and other advertising media. Additionally, the ads could include video, audio, static images, and computer animations as desired by advertisers.
Embodiments are preferably controlled by a number of input devices, such as touch sensitive devices, mice, keyboards, tracked laser spots or tracked objects, and tags. Examples of touch sensitive devices include touch screens and trackpads. Preferably, embodiments include authentication systems, such as use of personal codes or passwords that can be transmitted from a user's personal electronic device or entered via an input device. Embodiments preferably sense an approaching user, as with motion sensors or pressure sensors embedded in surrounding floor material, and send inquiries via wireless communications protocols to determine whether the user is carrying an electronic device that can provide identification and/or password, as by virtual business card or the like. Additionally, embodiments can employ voice authentication, allowing a user to speak his/her name and/or a password.
To enable remote printing for users, embodiments provide lockable printing in various forms. For example, jobs for which a user is likely to wait can be held on a storage medium or in memory until the user arrives and provides a code. For jobs for which a user is less likely to wait, secure output areas can be provided that remain locked closed until the user arrives, at which point the UI of the hub directs the user to the appropriate output area on confirmation of ID and/or password.
Embodiments further contemplate automated supplies and service monitoring and upkeep using, for example, Xerox® Device Centric Services™ (DCS). DCS provides provisioning, diagnostic, and other services that can be stored locally or acquired from a remote services host. If a service is not on a particular installation, DCS can acquire the service at a user's direction.
Embodiments can be employed, for example, in common areas of public spaces, such as transportation terminals. Users can order embodiments through, for example, the Xerox service network via a personal electronic device, such as a wireless PDA, or the like, printing, collation, and stapling of presentation materials from a public access hub according to embodiments. The hub of embodiments would thus print, collate, and staple the output and hold it in a secure output tray. The user can then locate the hub, which, in embodiments, can seek a user ID code by, for example, pinging a user's PDA for his/her business card. The hub in embodiments could then greet the user by name and asks for a prearranged password to confirm user identity. In embodiments, the password can be provided by speaking it, typing it on a text entry device, or sending it from a PDA, cell phone, or the like. Once user identity is confirmed, the hub unlocks the secure output tray and directs the user to open the tray to retrieve the print job.
In embodiments, the hub can display advertisements on display devices during periods of non-use. If a user sees something of interest, the user can ask the hub to pull up more information. The hub can transmit the data to a PDA, to a hard copy, or perhaps both. The hub in embodiments can further provide telephone and fax transmission services, enabling users to make telephone calls and send faxes, preferably on a fee-for-service basis for public access embodiments. Embodiments including video cameras can further offer videoconferencing services.
Embodiments include user detectors, such as proximity sensors, pressure sensors, and input device monitors. Proximity sensors can be IR based sensors or the like as are known in the art. Pressure sensors can be embedded in flooring surrounding the hub. In embodiments, a base is provided for the hub, the base including flooring under or in which pressure sensors can be installed. Thus, the hub can sense the approach or arrival of a user as well as departure of a user and can react accordingly.
Embodiments applied to use in a conference room setting or the like can act as networking hubs for portable electronic devices, such as PDAs, lap top computers, computer tablets, and the like. Networking can be accomplished using wired networking, wireless networking, or a combination of wired and wireless networking. Protocols for networking can include, for example, AppleTalk® and TCP/IP. For wireless networking and connectivity, embodiments can employ IRDA, IEEE 802.11, BlueTooth, and the like. Additionally, the hub can include collaboration software to facilitate sharing and simultaneous manipulation of data.
Embodiments can allow simultaneous retrieval of data while not disturbing the meeting in progress. A user can use another display of the hub, the “private side,” to access the data, via, for example, the Internet and a secure data archive. The user can retrieve the data and copy it into the collaborative workspace, to her computer or other device, or both. If participants want hard copies of a work product, the hub can print the copies immediately and in the room. This obviates the need to send the information to a local printer elsewhere in the building and having to leave the room to retrieve it. The hub preferably runs scheduled self-diagnostics. When low supplies are detected, it can alert an administrator, and/or prepare an order for more supplies, and/or submit the order, depending on user preferences.